SINGAPORE – Consumers will have better protection against volatile electricity prices, with stricter requirements for retailers coming into force progressively from August.
Under the new rules, electricity retailers must have a total net worth of $1 million when they apply for or renew their licence, to ensure they are credible and have sufficient financial standing, said the Energy Market Authority (EMA).
Retailers will also need EMA’s approval in appointing people to key positions, such as the chief executive.
This comes after six electricity retailers were forced to exit the market in 2021, while two others terminated contracts prematurely, leaving some customers scrambling to find other suppliers.
The new requirements were announced by EMA in a paper on Monday, after a public consultation.
EMA said the enhanced regulatory framework is one of the guardrails to strengthen the competitive market structure.
With the nationwide roll-out of the open electricity market in 2018, all consumers including households and small businesses could opt to buy electricity from retailers.
However, the onset of the global energy crunch at end-2021 resulted in high, volatile prices in the Singapore wholesale electricity market, which spilt over to the electricity retail market, EMA said.
Retailers will not be allowed to unilaterally terminate a contract if there is no payment or contractual default by the consumer.
To ensure fairness, those that impose early termination charges will be required to compensate consumers at least as much as the penalties they levy, said EMA. All retailers currently impose these early termination charges.
The eight retailers in question supplied electricity to around 9 per cent of all consumers, and some of those affected were transferred to state-owned SP Group, noted EMA.
Currently, about 40 per cent of households here have plans with the 10 existing private retailers.
The new rules will ensure the electricity retailers are “financially robust” with strong governance and risk management – to not only tide through occasional volatile periods in the electricity market but also maintain confidence in the sector, said Mr Sharad Somani, head of professional services firm KPMG’s ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) arm.
The existing retailers – Geneco, Keppel Electric, PacificLight Energy, Sembcorp Power, Senoko Energy, Sunseap Energy, Tuas Power Supply, Diamond Electric, Union Power and Flo Energy – will also have to hedge at least 80 per cent of their retail contract position, up from 50 per cent previously, and provide a performance bond for the remaining unhedged quantity, to increase resilience against market volatility.
Dr David Broadstock, a senior research fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, said that with a more comprehensive hedge coverage, volatile prices on the wholesale electricity market will have a smaller influence over the final electricity price. This will ensure better business planning, with higher price certainty that should benefit both the retailers and their customers.
The EMA said that with the growth of energy-intensive sectors such as food and transport, as well as advanced manufacturing, power needs will go up by 2028.
It is looking to increase its electricity capacity with a new generation plant to be up and running by then.
The facility will have a capacity of at least 600MW – enough to power about 864,000 four-room flats for a year – and will be ready by end-2027.
The agency noted that system peak demand – which refers to the time of day with the highest electricity consumption – is expected to reach between 9.3 gigawatts and 11.6 gigawatts by 2028.
A new system peak demand of 7.8 gigawatts was reached in May 2023 amid record-high temperatures.
Said Mr Somani: “The key benefit to the sector is getting security of supply in a more sustainable and affordable manner.
“Singapore must work to ensure availability, reliability and competitiveness of the power made available to drive the economic engine as well as meet the demand of consumers.”
